Acoustic surveys
The acoustic survey of a space assesses how sound propagates between two points in an acoustic system with respect to time variation.
General requirements for good acoustics:
there must be adequate sound intensity in every area of the room, especially in remote areas;
sound energy must be distributed evenly in the room;
the optimum reverberation characteristics must be ensured to facilitate any function of the room;
the auditorium must be free from sound defects (echoes, acoustic shadows, resonance, concentrations of sound waves, and excessive reverberation);
background noise and vibration (due to activities outside the auditorium) must be sufficiently eliminated in order not to interfere in any way with the main function of the room;
it is important to note that depending on the type and especially on the destination of the room, acoustic parameters may differ significantly.
The conflict between the acoustic requirements for speech and music:
Speech:
the acoustics of rooms designed for speech (classrooms, university halls, conference rooms, theatre halls) must firstly ensure speech clarity and intelligibility, without omitting that
understanding speech depends significantly on gestures and facial mimicry, as it depends on voice projection;
the expectation of the audience regarding the actual quality of the speech signal is not very critical, as long as the speaker’s voice and inflections are recognizable and vocal information is intelligible.
Music:
The audiences of musical performances have higher expectations of sound quality for various musical styles;
While sound clarity is mandatory for speech, excessive clarity in music may lead to the subjective impression of “brittle” or “dry” sound. Moreover, this accentuates the noises made by the audience in the room, making the musicians’ job even more difficult.
Another important difference is that music covers a wide range of frequencies (between 20 Hz and 20 kHz) while speech lies in a narrow band between 500 Hz and 4 kHz.
Giving the above, it becomes clear that acoustics is a science whose application requires extensive knowledge and considerable experience.
The acoustic survey includes:
1. Analysis of the room and location in the context of the proposed destination;
2. Measurement of the existing acoustic parameters;
3. Calculation of the designed acoustic parameters of the room;
4. Determination of the optimal acoustic parameters for the best sound quality;
5. Mathematical modelling of the acoustic behaviour of the room for various variants of interior geometry and acoustic treatment;
6. Identification of the optimal variants from a technical and economic perspective.
Our team of specialists perform acoustic surveys but also technical projects for any type of space: shopping centres, malls, stores, office buildings, restaurants and bars, terraces, schools, kindergartens, training centres, places of worship, cultural institutions, conference rooms, libraries, parking areas, hospitals, hotels, casinos, banks, industrial halls, factories, warehouses, airports, train stations, bus stations, waiting rooms, ports, state institutions, houses of culture, cinemas, stadiums, sports complexes, gyms, and fitness centres, as well as with respect to the propagation of emergency population warning messages in urban and rural environments.